Plovdiv

Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv (Пловдив) has more obvious charms than Sofia, which locals tend to look down on. The old town embodies Plovdiv’s long history – Thracian fortifications subsumed by Macedonian masonry, overlaid with Roman and Byzantine walls. Great timber-framed mansions, erected during the Bulgarian renaissance, symbolically look down upon the derelict Ottoman mosques and artisans’ dwellings of the lower town. But this isn’t just another museum town: the city’s arts festivals and trade fairs are the biggest in the country, and its restaurants and bars are equal to those of the capital.

Plovdiv centres on the large ploshtad Tsentralen, dominated by the monolithic Hotel Trimontium Princess.

More about Bulgaria

Explore

Find out more

Ploshtad Dzhumaya

Thronged with promenading Plovdivians and lined with shops, cafés, and bars, the pedestrianized ul. Knyaz Aleksandar I leads onto the attractive ploshtad Dzhumaya where the substantial ruins of a Roman stadium that could hold thirty thousand spectators are on display beneath the square. Among the variously styled buildings here, the renovated Dzhumaya Mosque, with its diamond-patterned minaret and lead-sheathed domes, steals the show; it’s believed that the mosque dates back to the reign of Sultan Murad II (1359–85).

The Old Quarter

Covering one of Plovdiv’s three hills with its cobbled streets and colourful mansions, the Old Quarter is a painter’s dream and a cartographer’s nightmare. As good a route as any is to start from pl. Dzhumaya and head east up ul. Saborna. Blackened fortress walls dating from Byzantine times can be seen around Saborna and other streets, sometimes incorporated into the dozens of timber-framed National Revival houses that are Plovdiv’s speciality. Outside and within, the walls are frequently decorated with niches, floral motifs or false columns, painted in a style known as alafranga. Turn right, up the steps beside the Church of Sveta Bogoroditsa, and continue, along twisting cobbled lanes, to the Roman Theatre, the best preserved in the country, and still an impressive venue for regular concerts and plays (advertised around the town and in the local press).

The City Gallery of Fine Arts and around

The City Gallery of Fine Arts holds an extensive collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Bulgarian paintings, including some fine portraits by renowned National Revival realist painter Stanislav Dospevski. Further along, the Church of SS Constantine and Elena contains a fine gilt iconostasis, decorated by the prolific nineteenth-century artist Zahari Zograf, whose work also appears in the adjacent Museum of Icons. A little further uphill is the richly decorated Kuyumdzhioglu House, now home to the Ethnographic Museum. Folk costumes and crafts are on display on the ground floor, while upstairs, the elegantly furnished rooms reflect the former owner’s taste for Viennese and French Baroque.

The night train to Istanbul

There’s a nightly train to İstanbul, which leaves Plovdiv at 9.15pm and arrives at 8am; tickets cost 51Lv and must be bought in advance from the BDZh-Rila office in Plovdiv’s Central Station (Tsentralna Gara; daily 7am–noon & 1–6pm; 032 643120). Australian, US, UK and most EU citizens require Turkish visas that can only be bought online at http://www.evisa.gov.tr.

Accommodation

Plovdiv’s hotels are almost as expensive as Sofia’s though the influx of backpackers has generated a surge of decent new hostels offering sociable dorm accommodation in line with the prices of private rooms. The only time you might have trouble finding somewhere to stay is during the trade fairs in May and September, when all the better hotels and private rooms are taken and prices can double.

Eating

The most atmospheric restaurants are in the old town, many occupying elegant old houses and serving good, traditional Bulgarian food. In the new town, ul. Knyaz Aleksandar I is awash with cheaper fast-food outlets, though better quality can be found away from the main drag.